City Council (New York City)

News about City Council (New York City), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 12, 2015

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito proposes significant easing of penalties for nonviolent, low-level offenses in her first State of the City address; proposal amounts to criticism of the New York City Police Department's 'broken windows' tactics. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, group lobbying for ban on carriage horses, is disputing five-figure penalty for making illegal campaign contributions to New York City Council members Mark D Levine and Laurie Cumbo in 2013; argues that fine is responsibility of its former political consultant Advance Group. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

Artyom Matusov, former policy analyst for New York City Council, files federal lawsuit claiming that he was fired for voicing criticism over testimony given by Police Commissioner William J Bratton; Matusov was fired after contacting reporters to question statistics on the use of force by police officers. MORE

Sep. 18, 2014

Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council participate in softball showdown at MCU Park, home of minor league team Brooklyn Cyclones; pseudo-contentious game, between administration and council that have enjoyed mostly good relationship, ends with mayor's office losing 17-13. MORE

May. 12, 2014

Editorial contends arrest of New York City Councilman Ruben Wills for alleged theft of public funds is reminder about the need to put the greatest possible distance between the public trough and politician's fingers; notes that it occurred same day as Council convened its first hearing on package of rule changes meant to increase transparency and accountability. MORE

May. 8, 2014

New York City Councilman Ruben W Wills, Democrat who represents southeastern Queens, is arrested on charges of misusing public funds; indictment includes multiple counts of fraud and larceny in connection with more than $30,000 in public funds that went missing from charity Wills used to run; Wills and a relative are also accused of conspiring to steal public campaign funds by creating fraudulent business. MORE

Apr. 30, 2014

Members of New York City Council unite behind proposed rules, championed by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, that would democratize the bill-drafting process and the way in which discretionary funds are apportioned to individual lawmakers; reforms aim to reduce speaker's power and increase transparency; steps fall short of Mayor Bill de Blasio's call to do away with such spending entirely. MORE

Apr. 26, 2014

New York City Council has been a reliable ally and cheerleader for Mayor Bill de Blasio's agenda during his first few months in office, but some cracks have begun to show; skirmish over Council's role in approving development projects that require changes in the city’s zoning ordinances has caused Council to grapple with how close its working relationship should ultimately be with mayor. MORE

Jan. 24, 2014

Brad Lander, a cerebral and unassuming New York City councilman from Brooklyn with a degree in anthropology, has abruptly become a power broker, the sort of person who endlessly fascinates scholars of the modern metropolis; he is council's new deputy for policy and is being referred to as a 'shadow speaker' for his closeness to Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. MORE

Jan. 23, 2014

Melissa Mark-Viverito, who won bitter race for New York City Council speaker, rewards her supporters with lucrative Council posts, while punishing adversaries with lesser assignments. MORE

Jan. 9, 2014

New York City Council unanimously elects Melissa Mark-Viverito, fiercely liberal Democrat from East Harlem, as its powerful speaker, eschewing moderate leadership that had overseen its ranks for a decade; her election represents early and significant victory for Mayor Bill de Blasio and eliminates the last barrier to a government fully in line with the undiluted liberalism embraced by the new mayor. MORE

Jan. 8, 2014

Supporters of Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handpicked candidate, and challenger Daniel Garodnick continue to campaign before the New York City Council picks its new speaker. MORE

Jan. 7, 2014

Michael Powell Gotham column observes that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has fixed his eyes on two prized goals, seeing Melissa Mark-Viverito elected City Council speaker, and passing increase in taxes for the wealthy that would fund universal pre-kindergarten and after-school programs; contends that de Blasio, new dog on the block in city politics, has alpha hounds at every corner of city government ready to battle him. MORE

Jan. 7, 2014

Editorial calls on New York City Council to nominate Councilman Daniel Garodnick as its next speaker; holds Garodnick's reputation and legislative record make him a better choice than Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has been heavily lobbied for by Mayor Bill de Blasio. MORE

Jan. 6, 2014

New York City Councilman Daniel R Garodnick is challenging Melissa Mark-Viverito for Council's speakership; she has the backing of a City Council majority, powerful unions and, not least, Mayor Bill de Blasio; Garodnick has refused to concede, saying mayor's interference threatens to weaken Council. MORE

Jan. 4, 2014

Melissa Mark-Viverito, likely to become next speaker of the New York City Council, was widely criticized in 2007 for ramming through a last-minute zoning change supported by her staunch ally, 1199 SEIU health care workers union; fracas was typical of pressure points routinely faced by Council speakers, and illustrates Mark-Viverito's aggressive but polarizing political style. MORE

Apr. 19, 2013

Community Outreach Unit of the New York City Council is a taxpayer-financed office that is supposed to serve as a resource for the five boroughs; critics say it frequently functions as publicity and public relations machine for Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine C Quinn, who maintains firm control over its operations. MORE

Feb. 28, 2013

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg is expected to sign two bills passed by the City Council expanding restrictions on New York City’s cooperation in federal efforts to deport immigrants; bills were introduced in response to Secure Communities, federal program that is a cornerstone of Obama administration's immigration enforcement strategy and which has drawn opposition from immigrants' advocates. MORE

Dec. 13, 2012

New York City Council members will propose legislation to further limit city's cooperation with federal authorities seeking to detain and deport immigrants under Secure Communities, federal immigration-enforcement plan allowing fingerprints from local or county prison bookings to be sent to Homeland Security Dept; council bills would reaffirm New York's reputation as one of nation's most immigrant-friendly municipalities. MORE

Nov. 19, 2012

New York City Districting Commission approves revised plan that will define all 51 City Council districts for the next decade, redrawn to reflect population shifts in the 2010 census; approval is in response to concerns that its initial redistricting proposal was unfair to minorities. MORE

Oct. 11, 2012

New York City Council hearing centered largely on the New York Police Dept's controversial stop-and-frisk practices, erupts into a series of outbursts and sharp exchanges; hearing before the Public Safety Committee includes testimony on four bills aimed at police reform, and most of the negative comments are directed at attorney who testified against the bills on behalf of Mayor Michael R Bloomberg and the Police Dept. MORE

Oct. 3, 2012

Month-long schedule of public hearings begins on redistricting map proposed by New York City's Districting Commission to delineate, block by block, the future boundaries of City Council members' districts; commission's executive director Carl Hum suggests that the commission is open to changes in the proposed map in order to ensure that minority groups are represented fairly. MORE

Aug. 9, 2012

Members of the New York City Council interrogate and berate city's Board of Elections, citing a list of problems with past elections and expressing frustration with the errors and delays in the system; council members say they are worried, given the board's poor performance during the June 26 Congressional primary, about its ability to expeditiously tally the results of the upcoming legislative primaries as well as the presidential election in November. MORE

Jul. 28, 2012

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg sues the New York City Council, fulfilling a vow to fight two laws that would raise the wages of some private sector workers at companies that do business with the city; lawsuit seeks to overturn the so called living wage and prevailing wage laws that would increase pay for service workers at companies that receive government subsidies or lease space to a city agency; Bloomberg says higher wage requirements would discourage companies from doing business in the city. MORE

Jul. 13, 2012

New York City Council announces that it will hold an oversight hearing in an effort to determine what went wrong in the ballot-counting process in June's Democratic Congressional primary in the 13th District, covering northern Manhattan and the Bronx; Board of Elections officials say they support the council's decision. MORE

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Jessica Reinis of Boerum Hill was only in the fourth grade at the Brooklyn Friends school, but she had plenty of questions for Carol Bellamy, who, from 1977 to 1985, was the City Council president:
“Can I wear a dress and still be...

The City Council approved a zoning change on Thursday that is meant to stop the proliferation of impersonal bank branches and other large storefronts along the major commercial avenues of the Upper West Side. The new rules, which were developed...

7:19 p.m. | Updated In a single whiplash-inducing week, a spokesman for a City Council member was fired, rehired and, on Thursday, fired again, a bizarre turn of events following the revelation that the aide once served a federal prison term for an...

They met as eager activists who leafleted for candidates and demonstrated against antigay violence outside the Stonewall Inn. Young, female and gay, Christine C. Quinn and Emily Giske became such close friends that Ms. Giske moved into Ms. Quinn's...

Governor Carey and Mayor Koch were among 500 people who crowded into the City Council Chamber at City Hall yesterday for a memorial tribute to Antonio G. Olivieri, a Manhattan Councilman at Large who died on Tuesday at the age of 39.

November 8, 1980, Saturday

The day after their victories, City Councilman Steven S. Orlow of Queens sought out a small hotel upstate to savor his election, and Councilman Robert J. Dryfoos of Manhattan spent the morning at the subway station at 77th Street and Lexington Avenue...